


Really Bad at Surprises

by marauders_4_life



Series: 25 Days of December [7]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Human Sides (Sanders Sides), Multi, Nonbinary Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Nonbinary Character, Surprise Party, Trans Male Character, Trans Male Morality | Patton Sanders, Virgil is diabetic but it isn't specifically mentioned in this story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:56:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27947912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marauders_4_life/pseuds/marauders_4_life
Summary: Patton knew something was up when Virgil was asking him to go to Target with them. After all, they despised Target and even without this pathetic excuse of a distraction. This specific date was circled on the calendar for the past year.Or.Today’s a big milestone and Roman, Logan, and Virgil are all really bad at surprise parties.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil/Creativity | Roman/Logic | Logan/Morality | Patton
Series: 25 Days of December [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2036959
Kudos: 39





	Really Bad at Surprises

**Author's Note:**

> TW: Slight Mentions of Transphobic Family Members, Past Dysphoria descriptions  
> If these topics will trigger you then please don’t read.

Patton knew something was up the moment Virgil told him that they were going outside. Like this is the grown-ass person who only went outside on the weekends when they were forced to. So, if the three of them wanted to plan something then they could have at least had Roman distract him. Plus, they weren’t being very discreet with the whole date, after all, they had this date on their calendar for the past three hundred and sixty-five days. 

“Come on, Pat.” Virgil groaned and stuffed their hands further into their hoodie pockets. “You know you want to come with. After all, Starbucks is right there. Like. Right. There. Like within five hundred feet.” Patton finished tying the double knot on his snow boots before uncrossing his legs and standing up. 

“Vi, you know I’m coming.” He then moved to the closest to grab one of his thicker jackets as it was snowing yesterday. “You don’t need to convince me with sugary drinks. But now that you said it.” 

“Seriously?” Patton watched as Virgil rolled their eyes. “You know how pink and packed that place is gonna be?” They did have a point, even with the social distancing measures that Starbucks was always super busy seeing how it was inside the local Target.

“Don’t lie.” He grabbed Virgil’s backpack off the small table nearby and opened up the door. “You know how much you like their Peppermint Hot Chocolate, let alone their Passion Tango Tea.” 

“Hey!” Patton knew that this would usually be the time where Virgil would lightly hit him on the shoulder, but as they were currently trying to find any black ice on the pavement they didn’t. “I thought we weren’t gonna mention the tea situation.” 

When they finally made it to the car, Patton got into the passenger seat. After Logan, who was busy planning whatever they had planned, Virgil was the second-best winter driver as they learned to drive in Michigan. Virgil had opened the backseat to grab the snow brush then a minute later got into the driver’s seat and threw the brush into the back. 

Quickly the car was turned on which allowed it to be warmed up as well and they were leaving the driveway. Fifteen minutes later, they were parked in the Target parking lot putting on their masks and preparing to reenter the cold. 

“So,” Patton started as they were walking into the doors of the store and quickly saw the overwhelming pink of the Valentine’s Day decorations, “Oh god that warmth feels good. Oh, so what were we here for again? I never got the shopping list.”

“While I need some,” they grabbed a red basket and quickly turned left at the first big aisle intersection, “more nail polish. And Roman wanted us to grab him some of those holiday sugar cookies. You know the ones with the sweet pink frosting for Valentine’s Day?” Patton nodded, he certainly did, Roman didn’t like many sweets but oh boy did he like those sugar cookies. There was never a holiday where they didn’t buy at least three packages to last ‘till the next time they were available. “Oh, and I need some more eyeliner ‘cause I’m running low.” 

“Okay, then so makeup and sugar. Sounds fun.” They passed the pet section but didn’t go look for anything for Widow. She already had enough stuff and certainly didn’t need any of these pink heart toys. “What color did you want?” 

“Black.” Of course, how could Patton forget? Seeing how Virgil had spent the last week and a half mourning the empty bottle of black nail polish. “But maybe I’ll grab a light pink if they have any nice shades.” 

“Ah, yes.” They turned down the eye makeup aisle, “That millennial pink you keep talking about.” 

“Yup.” They were quiet for a minute as they browsed the shelf for their eyeliner. Once they found it, they placed it in the basket and the two of them continued down the aisle to the brightly lit nail polish shelf. 

Patton looked at all the bright colors of nail polish and thought about their quickly growing collection back at home. Virgil by far had the biggest collection of daily use makeup as they were the only one who wore makeup on a close to daily basis. In a close second was Roman, who had a bunch of foundation and setting powder that he’s collected through theater. But Patton was now in third by this nail polish collection alone, which wasn't hard seeing how Logan didn't like makeup but he still thought it counted. 

He could remember when he was fifteen. His parents had wanted the perfect daughter, something that they would never get in the end but he hadn't known that yet. And had bought him all the lipglosses, eyeshadows, and blushes they could find. Then he had heard the term ‘transgender’ within the first few weeks of college and after a bunch of late-night research on the library computer, he learned why he had that weird feeling in his chest when he was called his deadname. Why he couldn’t stand looking in the mirror at his chest, why he rather be caught dead than be sorted into the girl's group, and why he couldn’t even think about inserting a tampon without wanting to curl up and cry. A year and a half later when he was being kicked out of his parent’s house he hadn’t even looked at the vanity which held all the makeup he had received for Christmas just months earlier. At this point, he could never think about wearing makeup, after all, it was a girl's thing. Right?

It took another two years to really realize that makeup wasn’t a girl thing. Of course, he already knew this, after all, Virgil who he had known for over three years now definitely wasn’t a girl but still loved to use makeup. But he still hadn’t even thought about painting his own nails without a deep feeling of wrongness. And the feeling didn’t really dissipate until last year. Realistically, nothing changed before and after that event but something finally clicked and he no longer felt like he was suffocated by the thin layer of paint. However, he still had no interest in any of Virgil's other makeup, not because it was a girl's thing but because he just didn't like it. 

“I found my pink,” Patton looked away from the Sinful Colors display to see Virgil holding up a bottle of Essie nail polish in a light pink color and he could see two bottles of black in the basket. “See a color you like?” 

Patton looked back at the shelf but shook his head. None of these looked like something he would actually wear. “Nah, I’m good. Maybe next time Roman goes to Ulta,” Roman swore by Ulta having some good makeup for his theatre students “I’ll see something that I like. But that pink looks like it’ll go well with the whole black aesthetic.” 

“Thanks! Anne, you know Anne right?” Patton nodded, both of them worked at the same elementary school, Virgil was the school’s social worker while Patton was one of the second and third-grade teachers. Patton had taught Anne for two years before she moved up to fourth grade and Virgil had been working with Anne since she had entered the school district. “She also had supported the idea of pink and black together and threatened to steal Miss. Piggy if I didn’t wear pink nail polish to our next appointment.” Miss. Piggy was the resident stuffed animal in Virgil's office and was the only one that was still able to be in the COVID safe office. 

“That does sound like Anne. What’s next?” 

“Roman’s cookies then I’m probably going to go grab some drinks.” Patton held in his sigh but still thought that Virgil’s daily habit of multiple cups of coffee and energy drinks wasn’t very good for them. “Then Starbucks for you.” 

They walked back up the eye makeup aisle and turned left to make their way to the grocery section. Once there they quickly picked up some of the remaining cookies, apparently, there had been a rush on them due to Valentine’s Day being tomorrow. Then stopped by the energy drink aisle to grab some Mountain Dew energy drinks and made their way to the front of the store. 

“So, what did you want to get?” Virgil asked as they were scanning their multiple cans at the self checkout. 

“Uh, my usual probably.” By which he meant the Peppermint Mocha Frap, the four of them didn’t go to Starbucks a lot as it was super expensive, preferring to make their own coffee or buy from Dunkin Donuts. But if they were going to Starbucks, then gosh darn it was he going to order the sweetest thing possible. 

“‘Kay,” Patton handed them the three bottles of nail polish and the eyeliner pencil once they were done with the energy drinks. “I’m gonna get Ro and Lo their drinks too. Roman will literally murder us if we don’t bring him back something.” 

They quickly paid before heading over to the Starbucks in the corner of the Target.

“Hi, how many I help you today?” With all the traffic in the store today, Patton was surprised at how empty the Starbucks was. That was definitely not normal. 

“Can we get one tall Peppermint Mocha Frap, one tall Iced Peppermint Mocha, one tall Passion Tango Tea, and one tall Cinnamon Dolce Creme?” 

They quickly paid, got their drinks, and once again they were braving the cold February weather. Patton grabbed the brush out of the back and cleaned off the window before sitting down in the now warm car, as Virgil had already started it before going to do his task. Patton took a sip of his minty drink, after placing the tray on his lap, before grabbing his phone and texting Roman that they were heading home soon. Within a few seconds after sending the text, Virgil got into the car after placing their items into a reusable bag that was in the trunk and placing the basket in the cart corral. 

When Roman responded within a minute, Patton remembered why they were at the store. Roman never, not once, responded within five minutes unless something was going on or it was an emergency. Once again, the three of them weren’t being very subtle. 

He put his phone down none the less when Virgil pulled out of the spot, they were the type of person who only parked in spots where they could pull through unless there were no other options. 

They were home within twenty minutes, as the traffic increased as it got closer to lunch on the day before Valentine’s Day. 

“Wait Pat,” Virgil grabbed his arm when he went to open the screen door. “I just want to tell you, because I know I would hate this, but-”

“Vi,” Patton let go of the door and turned to look at them. “I know. Y’all are gonna have a cake and some banners and some ridiculous saying that only Roman would like over everything.” 

“Oh.” 

“Yeah. I, personally, may not be the most secretive out of all of us, but y’all are absolutely terrible at it.” Patton gave them a smile, “Really. Whose idea was it to send you out to the store? You despise Target.” 

Virgil gave out a small laugh, “I know right. That was all Roman.” 

“Can we go in now? Because it’s getting cold standing here.” Patton watched as Virgil nodded and went to open the door again. 

The second he stepped inside he saw a huge banner hanging from the ceiling that read ‘Congratulations’. To the side taped onto the closet door was a long piece of butcher’s paper that had ‘You’re One Year Post-Op of Yeeting the Teets’ in bright blue marker. Yup, that was definitely a saying only Roman would like.

**Author's Note:**

> If you see any typos please inform me, all I want to do is improve my writing. 
> 
> This is part of my 25 Days of December event that I’m doing this year (2020). This prompt is from a prompt list that I wrote and posted on Tumblr. I’m not doing it in order but picking random ones every day as an advent calendar thing. If you want to see the prompt list here’s the [Link](https://helloitsnico.tumblr.com/post/636071315732889600/25-days-of-december-writing-prompts) Also, here’s a link to my [Tumblr](https://helloitsnico.tumblr.com) and I would love to interact with you guys on there. 
> 
> Today’s prompt was “Transitions”. 
> 
> Also, I found the saying of “Yeet the Teets” from Dr. Sidhbh Gallagher (or @gendersurgeon on TikTok), so I (nor Roman) can take credit for the saying. However, I'm pretty sure other people within the community have said it as well.


End file.
